Randsplaining, defined

Robert Geroux June 5, 2013 - 8:10pm

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Last summer I came across a brilliant new term whose origins I've been searching for as part of my recent obsession with/analysis of libertarian conservatives. The term is "randsplaining," which is defined in the following way (and which can be accessed via twitter, here: https://twitter.com/MotherJones/status/241318627326980096[2]):

randsplaining. verb. the act of a rich person confidently telling the poor what's wrong with them.

Perhaps even more than Sirico, Paul Ryan's public statements are suffused with examples of randsplaining. I'm not in the habit of giving advice to my political combatants, but here's a point to consider: the strategy hasn't worked very well thus far. Most of us that aren't part of the one percent don't like to have our alleged defects -- in particular, the fact that we're not rich -- trotted out and criticized. Being poor is difficult enough. Being castigated -- by the wealthy no less -- for being poor is unconscionable. There's something disturbingly Calvinistic about the process as well.